The Bones of the Heart
by Brennanite47
Summary: Second in "The Secret Series". B&B are hiding the new step in their relationship. How far will Angela go to uncover the truth? B&B romance and humor.
1. Prologue

_**Welcome back to my fluff fest known as "The Secret Series". Since "Jingle Bones" took off so well, it's been named as the first in this series. This takes place in season three, only a few weeks after Jingle Bones ended, and now it is Valentine's Day. What twists will lie ahead of our great secret pair? Read to find out.**_

**The Bones of the Heart**

**Prologue:**

"You've gotta get outta here." Temperance Brennan said without much enthusiasm.

"I'm proud of you, hon. Using such slang as 'gotta' and 'outta'." Seeley Booth mumbled against her shoulder.

Brennan groaned in anguish. Sure, she came into the lab early enough that none of the others on her team were there yet, and she wanted him out of there before they started showing up. She didn't need her co-workers and friends to see that she was sad to see Booth leave anymore.

"Just give me one more kiss and I'll go." he promised.

Brennan didn't give the statement much trust, so decided to make sure he was going to go after this. She pulled him down to her by his tie, pouring everything she had into that ten second period of passion. When she broke it, Booth stumbled backwards. She laughed while he just shook his head.

"I'll talk to you later, I gotta go clock in." He said while heading for the door.

"See you later." she said while she went back to organizing her file cabinet. She looked out into the lab to see if anyone else was there and saw the little show she and Booth would've just performed. It didn't appear anyone else came in; she didn't expect it, either. It was still seven o'clock in the morning and she was the only one crazy enough to think coming in that early was worth it.

Brennan spent the next few minutes trying to scrub away the permanent grin that had etched itself across her face. Ever since she and Booth decided to pursue their relationship secretly, she'd been experiencing a wonderful feeling of total and complete bliss that she couldn't really put into words. It made her feel good that, for once, she could just shut up and enjoy the sensations that Booth was creating in her.

A few minutes later, the team came pouring into the lab, all wearing expressions of sadness and hatred of Mondays. Brennan just sat in her office until either the groans had stopped or someone needed her to do something. The latter took favor when Angela made her way into her office on the way to her own.

"Sweetie, do you live in this office or are you just insane?" her best friend asked her.

"I believe in getting things done that need to be done." Brennan replied easily.

"'Cause organizing the file cabinet is the most important thing on your to-do list?" she prodded.

"Right now it is."

Angela's expression turned to shock. Her friend was learning to hold her own in an argument better in the last few weeks. Angela actually gave into her a once or twice. Something was up.

"Are you okay, Sweetie? You've been so…happy…these last few days."

"If I'm happy, why would something be wrong?" Brennan shot back. She only hoped it was convincing. Booth had been giving her a crash-course in lying due to Angela's 'mind-reading' ability. He'd said if he could tell she was lying, so could Angela. Brennan was also trying to be careful that she didn't actually lie to her closest friend, just leaving out key facts.

Nothing seemed to escape Angela though, "Who's the guy?"

_Damn it, _she thought. "Why do you always assume I'm in a good mood because of a male figure in my life?"

"Because if there's one thing I recognize in this world, it's the scent of a man. Who is it?" Angela pried.

"No one, Ange. I just finished my latest novel very far ahead of schedule, so I'm glad I don't have to worry about that." Brennan said straight-faced and directly into her eyes, just like Booth told her to.

"Oh. Well, in any case, Cam wants to see you to get your findings on that case that you were working yesterday." Angela said while looking rather disappointed.

"Sure, thanks." Brennan said while jogging to get her lab coat.

"Bren?" she called.

"Yes?"

"If there ever is a guy…" Angela smiled.

"You're the first to know, I got it." she said from the doorway.

_I just got away with that horrible excuse? Huh…, maybe this lying thing isn't as hard as I thought it would be. _Brennan thought as she strolled into autopsy to find a very tired-looking Cam.

* * *

Angela was annoyed. She walked up to Hodgins' desk and plunked herself in the space he kept clear of papers just for her to sit there. She breathed out a harsh sigh.

"What's wrong, babe?" Hodgins didn't need to look up from his microscope to tell that the love of his life was irritated with someone, most likely Brennan.

"Brennan just bold-faced lied to me." she griped.

Hodgins looked up, "What?"

"Yeah, and it wasn't some cheap half-assed number too. Her eyes were solid and really looked truthful." Angela ranted.

"And you let her get away with such a travesty?" Hodgins chuckled. "How did you even tell?"

Angela gave a grotesque look, "Hodgy, I know this woman like the back of my hand. I can tell when something's up with her. I think it's a good something though." her face lightened a little.

"What 'good something' would that be?" Hodgins was completely into the conversation now, forgetting all about whatever he was examining.

"A man." she stopped to squeal slightly, "She doesn't want me to know what's going on and I don't think she knows I know, but I do!" it came out in a rush.

"Slow down, Angie, take a deep breath, and then tell me, quietly, what's going on?" he felt like a high school girl waiting on his overly-excited friend to fill him in on the current gossip.

Angela took his advice and lowered her voice. "Have you noticed that she's been, like, unworldly happy for awhile now?" she whispered.

Hodgins mulled that for a moment, "Come to think of it, she hasn't been chewing us out or basically told us all we're idiots for some time now."

"Exactly! So I went to her office to see what was up and she said that she was happy because she got her last book done early so she won't have to worry about it." she said.

"Well…what's wrong with that? Maybe she is just happy for her book." he shrugged.

Angela sighed. _Men, such simple creatures, _she thought. "Maybe, but I think it's more. I'm gonna get down to the bottom of this." she stumbled to her feet.

"Whatever. I love you, my little sociopath." he called as she walked away.

_Oh, Hodgy,_ Angela thought as she retreated to her office to plot, _if you only knew the extent of that statement right now…_

_***_

**_Uh, oh...what's Angela thinking about? You're gonna have to review to find out..._**


	2. Planning A Night On The Town

_**Okay, here's chapter one. I'm really sorry if this sounds really sucky, but this was insanely hard to write for some ungodly reason. I've been having some writer's block for awhile now, but I had to post this to maybe overcome it. Really hope you like.**_

_**Planning A Night On The Town**_

_**(Angela's POV):**_

Dear Diary,

I have always prided myself on two things: being able to understand the psychology of both normal people and uptight, stubborn scientists, and being able to catch my best friend in the world, Dr. Temperance Brennan, in a lie. Now that I've caught her and she doesn't know, I'm left to wonder why she lied to me in the first place.

There's no way that she was THAT happy about her book's early completion. The look in her eyes was purely the kind of happy that can only ever happen because of a man. Oh, yeah, I also know relationships pretty well. What was really bugging me was the fact that Bren was lying to me about a guy, something that she never hides from me. Unless…

It struck me like a baby-grand piano that'd fallen from the sky in a cartoon.

There's only three people in the world that Bren would lie for: Russ, Me (how sweet?), and Booth. She's not that way about me or her brother (thank God), so she and Booth must've been up to something. The two of them had been acting a little differently. Booth must've been giving her a crash-course in lying, because that was hard for me to depict. The only thing was why would they keep such a great thing under wraps?

How would I prove my theory?

All of these questions swirled around in my head while I relied on my ipod to soothe my already tense nerves. I don't know why, but "Viva La Vida" always seems to relax me, no matter what the situation might be. What I really needed was a drink, but I doubt that would look good for me: already boozing before nine.

To prove that a picture like the one that was forming in my head was a reality, it was going to take all of the creativity that I could muster. If Bren and Booth WERE sneaking around their friends like a couple of thieves, they going to cover their tracks very carefully, especially Mr. F.B.I. hot-shot.

Well, I'm an artist and a computer tech, I get paid pretty well to be creative. If Raoul wants to protect Christine, then here came the Phantom. Sorry for the analogy, Diary, but you know that _The Phantom of the Opera_ is my favorite. I kinda like the ring, anyway; Angela Montenegro: private investigator. Look out you two, here I come…

_*** * ***_

Dear Diary,

Brennan and Booth piled into my office about an hour later to see if I had the facial reconstruction for their latest victim. The skull had been in really good shape, so I had completed it rather quickly. The two of them looked kinda flustered, like they'd just gotten done yelling at each other again. I just gave them a knowing smile and led them over to my pride and joy, the Angelator.

I waited patiently for the program to boot and turned to Brennan, "Hey Bren, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me and Cam tonight for drinks? You know, post-Monday blues being blown away." I asked innocently.

Bren looked like she was considering it for a moment, "You mean you need me to be the designated driver?" she asked calmly.

I could only laugh, "No, Sweetie, we're getting a cab. We want you to have a good time, too."

Brennan sighed, "Sure, why not? I'm just gonna be guilt-tripped into it anyway."

"Yay!" I hugged her quickly before gaining a slight sense of professionalism and called up the program. Booth looked at me like I'd just grown a second head.

"Are you okay, Angela, or are you smoking something in here?" Booth asked, knowing I'd understand what he'd meant.

I smirked, "Maybe…anyway, here's my rendering of the victim."

The perfect plan was all laid out in my head.

* _**(No POV) **_*

"I don't like it." Booth stated plain and simply once they were free of the confines of the lab and riding the streets of D.C. in the Toyota.

"It's…fishy, right?" Brennan asked.

"It sure is fishy."

"Do you think she knows? 'Cause that would just about make my day." Brennan mumbled.

He laughed. "Was that Bones' sarcasm?"

She smiled, "Yes, it was."

"That's pretty good. I don't think she knows for certain, I just think she suspects something and is trying to pursue it, investigate." Booth said.

"Then what do you think Angela's going to get out of taking me and Cam out tonight?" Brennan asked.

"I think she's going to try to get her best friend drunk and then ask her who she's going out with, but that's just the picture forming in my head." he turned towards the Hoover building that housed F.B.I. headquarters.

Brennan was taken aback, "That's sneaky."

"Yes, it is." Booth replied.

"It's under-handed." she said more definitively.

"Well, that's Angela for you."

Brennan thought while he pulled into his parking space in the underground garage. "I'll take care of it, don't worry." she said after a minute.

"You know I will no matter what you say." he flashed her the charm smile.

She responded with her own half-smile. "Don't go all mushy on me. We've got murders to solve."

Booth couldn't help it though. He gave a quick kiss before they trudged to the elevator to his office.

* * *

"Please, Cam?" Angela pleaded with her superior and her friend.

"Look, Angela, you know how much I like to drink, but I don't wanna get in the middle of your shenanigans to get Dr. Brennan drunk to get her to admit to something she might not have done." Cam said in a flat tone while weighing someone's liver.

"You don't have to be in the middle of it, Cam, you just need to be there for moral support. I'll buy your drinks. Please?" Angela begged.

Cam smiled, feeling a different sense of power wash over her. "That won't be necessary, Angela. I'll do it under one condition."

She looked hopeful, "Anything, just name it."

"You and Hodgins don't grope each other in the office for the next two weeks. I'd prefer never again, but I think that'd be too much for the two of you." she grinned.

Angela winced, "Couldn't you make it a week and a half?"

"Nope, two weeks of non-groping, and I'll do it." Cam said, removing a lung.

She gasped through her clenched teeth. "Deal." she mumbled.

Cam clasped her hands together like she was praying and grinned. "Excellent…and that's effective immediately." Angela turned around to protest. "I scratch you're back, you scratch mine. We're even."

"Alright, alright. Be ready at seven." she said. Hodgins was going kill her, but it didn't matter if she could get Brennan just drunk enough for her to have a slip of tongue and not remember it the next day. She would go down in history as the first woman to ever trick Dr. Temperance Brennan into telling her something that she didn't want told.

* * *

Seeley Booth couldn't believe he was doing this. He probed his eyes with the colored contact lenses and slid the wig onto his head. He couldn't trust Angela to not ask her best friend who she was dating. He knew she suspected something, but didn't have the time to see the extent of her suspicions. More importantly, Booth knew that Brennan wasn't one to do things like this. Sneaking in under the Montenegro radar seemed like the best option to make himself feel better.

He dipped two fingers into the black paint in front of him and swiped two thick war lines over his cheekbones. In order to throw off Angela's artistic eye, he wore a long blond, fuzzy wig, blue contact lenses, and make-up.

_Jeez, Seeley, the things you do for Bones._ he thought. Booth was mentally preparing himself for the events of the night ahead. He smiled into the mirror "All a hundred percent worth it." he said to his reflection.

* * *

"Come on, Bren! The club awaits us." Angela called to her friend from the doorway of her office. Brennan was still in her blue lab coat.

"Technically, that's not true, because people will effectively intoxicate themselves whether we're there to observe it or not." Brennan typed out an email to someone who was bound to be important to the anthropology field in some shape, way, or form.

"This is true, Bren, but I wanna be one of those people intoxicating themselves." she said while navigating her friend away from her desk.

"You ready? We're burning moonlight." Cam popped her head into Brennan's office.

"Yes, we are." Angela said before Brennan could intervene with whatever excuse she would come up with. She wasn't going to have to worry about anything tonight, Angela was going to take care of everything.

Brennan groaned audibly as she shrugged on her coat. She didn't know how she was supposed to fool Angela if she were drinking, hell she could hardly fool Angela sober. She did something she never did before, Brennan prayed that by some miracle, there would be a way out of telling the truth.

**_So, what do you think? Does it suck horribly or is it good? I really can't tell on this one. Please leave me a review and I promise I'll do better on the next one._**


	3. Dancing Without Air

_**Hey, so this is a long time coming, I know, and I honestly don't think it's great, but I promise to update soon.**_

_**Dancing Without Air**_

Angela had dragged her friends to clubs before. This was a pure and simple fact. The only thing that was different was that she virtually knew everyone at this one. Strobe and laser lights were flashing hard enough to give its patrons a dizzy, light-headed feeling. Bodies meshed together on the dance floor to move to a horrid song that sounded like it was written by an alien. When they'd finally squeezed their way up to the bar, Angela called to the bartender by name.

"Hey C.J.! Three of the usual." she had to shout over the music.

"You got it, Ange." the man yelled back.

"How do you know all these people?" Brennan asked, wondering how her best friend had known two of the bouncers that greeted them, the coat-checker, and now the bartender.

"This is my favorite club, Sweetie. I come here at least once a week." she responded.

"Why am I not surprised?" Cam asked rhetorically.

Angela only smiled as C.J. returned with three, tall glasses of dark red liquid. Brennan eyed the contents warily and swished it around slightly.

"Just try it, Bren. Loosen up a little and have a drink. It has a berry-like taste to it." her friend coaxed her. Brennan looked back up at the giant smile that Angela was radiating. Booth had warned her about instances like that. She was scheming and he'd been right. Brennan eventually drank from the mystery drink. It did taste like berry, but vodka was the more prominent flavor that invaded her senses.

The artist grinned devilishly. _So far, so good._

* * *

Booth walked into the overly-populated club about an hour after the girls. His disguise was rather convincing that he was a tough, anarchist-type of guy. He didn't have any trouble with the bouncers who didn't even card him. That's the way he liked it though; this way he didn't have to explain the difference between the driver's license photo and the way he looked at that point in time. There was a considerable difference.

He'd spotted the trio chatting at the bar from a safe distance. Booth had guessed that Angela didn't want to risk Brennan remembering anything about tonight. She would have to hold off on the interrogation until she was completely wasted. Thank goodness Brennan only looked a little tipsy.

_Alright, Seeley, time for the performance of your lifetime,_ he mentally prepared himself for the hardest audience in the world. Booth adopted the persona and strutted up to the bar. He tapped Brennan on the shoulder and wrapped his arm around the other like a chauvinist.

"Hey baby. Care to dance?"

* * *

Brennan looked at the brave man that dared to address her so informally. She couldn't see his face through the mass of blond hair that hid it. She was assaulted by an eerie feeling that she knew this man from somewhere. The weight of his arm around her shoulders reminded her of Booth's when she'd fall asleep next to him. She looked to her friends, who were at a loss for words. Angela looked like she'd just witnessed murder while Cam looked amused and was waiting to see how Brennan would react.

"…I…" she stuttered unintelligibly. The hand that had rested on her shoulder moved closer to encourage her. One of the mystery man's fingers had stopped to play with a loose curl of Brennan's hair. It was about now that she was about to tell him to take a walk, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"_That tattoo…it's so familiar…Booth?"_ thoughts started swarming in her mind at a million miles an hour. The hand that wasn't playing with her hair was held out to her, waiting for her own to meet him halfway. To her friend's utter shock and disbelief, she took that leap and said, "Sure."

She thought she saw a smile underneath all that hair and followed him out to the dance floor. Angela still couldn't speak even as her friend went to dance with the stranger. Cam simply burst into laughter as Brennan and her new dance partner disappeared into the crowd.

Once the odd pair was out of sight, they began moving in time with the beat that thundered throughout the club's speaker system. Brennan moved in closer and examined the tattoo with both eyes at her disposal now. She looked up to meet the blue contacts that smiled at her.

"What are you doing here?" She moved in closer to whisper while keeping in tune to the music.

"I thought we'd have a little fun with Angela, if that's alright with you." Booth said as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"What kind of fun are you suggesting?" Brennan asked conspiratorially. Not only was Brennan angry at the fact that her friend brought her to a club to get drunk in the middle of the week, but also at the fact that it was a _bad_ club.

"Oh, Bones, we're in for a night of kicks and giggles." he replied.

"I think you mean we ourselves are going to be entertained, correct?"

Booth hung his head.


	4. To Be Happy

_**Okay, so my fans wanted a longer chapter because I know that last one was insanely short, and I hope I make it up to you with this one.**_

_**To Be Happy**_

"Hodgins, could I see you for a second? In my office?" Angela stumbled over to her boyfriend's workstation. His ecstatic face preceded his nod of agreement. Thinking she was up to something, he followed her like a little puppy-dog with his tongue hanging out.

"What are you up to, Angie?" he asked suspiciously. He was hoping for lunch-break "activities" in the Egyptian storage room with his beautiful girlfriend, but the look on her face suggested she was pissed. When Angela Montenegro got mad, it wasn't just in scattered showers, but a full-blown hurricane at a time. Before he could run for his life, she'd locked the door behind him.

"You would not believe what the hell Brennan did to me last night!" she half-yelled and half-groaned. Angela pressed her fingers to her temples and rubbed the tension that had built up there.

"Oh, God. What happened?" he said nonchalantly as he plunked down on the couch, obviously amused by her distress.

"This weird looking guy comes up to us and asks her to dance, and you know Brennan, I thought she'd say no, right?" she sat down next to him, her voice much quieter now.

"Sure." he waited for her to continue.

"Well, she said yes and completely disappeared with this Bon Jovi wannabe…" Angela rambled on about how she'd found her best friend in a dark corner of the club, making out with the man in question.

"She didn't?!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, yes she did, Hodgie. Total tongue action and everything." She said, getting into the swing of full gossip-mode. "Then, our brilliant anthropologist is making an idiot out of herself by letting him do body shots." Angela said with minor disgust.

Hodgins looked at her wide-eyed, "Are you sure we're talking about the same Brennan?"

"Oh, yeah. Before I know it, she's coming up to me and Cam at the bar, telling us she's taking off with the guy, and I haven't seen her since." she ended with a huff.

"What did this guy look like?" Hodgins asked.

"Umm…tall, muscular, blonde hair that belonged in 1985, and…" Angela stopped to remember something hardly discernable about Brennan's mystery man. Her mind didn't think anything of it at the time, but she'd noticed a singular, cross-like tattoo on the wrist that was draped around the scientist. "Booth." she whispered.

"What was that?" he asked.

Angela leaned in closer and hushed her voice, "It was Booth in that bar! Oh, my God, that's why she was so compliant with him. I am such and idiot! How didn't I see this last night?!"

"Ange, slow down." he chuckled at the hamster that he could visibly see running like mad inside his lover's head. "Why don't you just ask her if it was Booth or not?" he tried reason.

"Because A: I know it's Booth, and B: she'll lie to me again. I don't know why, but I just know that I need more evidence to make it solid before I ask her. If Bren is presented with the undeniable and hard facts that lead to my knowing, then she can't bluff her way out of it. It's logical." she said in a sing-song voice.

"And how do you intend to find this proof?" he relaxed into the couch, now content just to watch her artistic brain go to work.

"Oh, I've got a few tricks left up my sleeve." she laughed maniacally.

Hodgins simply rolled his eyes, "I've got to get back to work and analyze bug-goo." he headed for her door while she sat down at her computer. She murmured a good-bye and went to her own personal brand of work.

* * *

Angela couldn't believe it. She'd just went over all of the security footage of the lab for the last three weeks and not so much a blip of the F.B.I agent and his partner showed up on tape save for several hours on the platform and in her near her office bickering. It wasn't just that she hadn't found anything that made her mad; it was the fact that she and Hodgins got caught so easily all the time and she can't find her friends together suggestively once.

_It's because Jack and I are sloppy, we go at each other every free second. If they don't want me to know, Bren and Booth are going to be extra, extra careful to cover their tracks,_ she thought as she closed out of the program and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Angela?" Brennan's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Angela replied. She thought it better not to ask her friend about last night. She was waiting for the opportune moment to strike. "I'm going to lunch with Booth in a second, and I was wondering when you might be done with that crushed hard-drive for the case?"

The words that stuck in Angela's head were 'lunch with Booth in a second', "Well, that's up to the computer, but I'd say another two hours before it's done."

Brennan nodded a thanks and left her office. Angela followed slightly to the window of her office and waited until her and Booth left the lab to grab her coat and follow at a safe distance.

She climbed into her car and waited for the pair to get in front of her. She had a way better parking spot than Booth's SUV. Angela watched as they pulled out into traffic and slowly turned over her engine.

"Let the games begin," she said to the no one.

* * *

Brennan listened to the quite melody that played over the radio as Booth navigated the Toyota's way through the homicidal roads of D.C. She was drifting on the edge of sleep when Brennan felt Booth's hand reach across the seat to hold hers. The sweet gesture opened her up to her surroundings…and the uneasy feeling that was settling into her stomach.

"What's the matter, Bones?" he asked as her head whipped around in surveillance.

"I have this unnerving feeling that we're being watched." she looked back to see a familiar grey Hyundai following them a ways back. "It's Angela." Brennan whispered.

Booth took his hand back and swerved off into a side street, "I thought you said she didn't know?!" he said loudly.

Brennan fumbled, "I said 'I don't think she does', maybe your little appearance at the club last night was enough to start some thoughts up. Maybe she saw the tattoo you didn't bother to cover up."

Booth groaned as he turned again, trying to avoid the tail. He didn't understand even what was happening anymore. Ever since after New Year's, everything had been tense and awkward around everything and everyone. Nothing seemed real. It was just the two of them and their giant secret that now had almost certainly fallen into the hands of the noisiest woman on the planet.

They quickly turned into a parking garage when their follower wasn't looking to hide. Both heaved a sigh of relief when they watched the car drive by without stopping. Booth cut the engine and rested his forehead on the steering wheel.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this charade up, Bones." he said.

"I know what you mean. At first it was exciting, but now it's more of a burden than anything else."

"What do you think we should do?" he asked.

That was the million-dollar question in Brennan's mind. Was it tell everyone and be put under the microscope by their colleagues or keep lying to the people she cared about the most? Both weren't winning options. For all they knew, if the F.B.I. found out about their new direction in their relationship, they might even split them apart. The one thing that Brennan could never bring herself to think about.

"If we tell, Sweets would be like a small boy in a candy shop and then probably recommend separation and give me to a new agent." she whispered. Booth clenched the steering wheel so hard his knuckles went white. Brennan saw this and reached over to gently soothe his death grip on the inanimate object he probably wished was Sweets' throat.

"I don't want that, either. I'm just stating the possibility. You know after my…previous incidents," she referred to the times she'd shot two people: one a murderer and the other being Booth at Halloween, "that Cullen would have no problem throwing me back in the lab and hiding the key. I don't wanna go back to being a lab rat, Booth, these have been the best two and a half years of my life." she confessed.

Booth didn't know what to say. He undid his seat belt and scooted towards Brennan, enveloping her in a warm hug.

"I don't know if I can keep lying to Angela though. She's my best friend and I don't want her to realize how long I've been lying to her. You and her are the only constants there's ever been in my life and I don't wanna betray one of them." she kept going on.

"You done?" he asked while he rubbed her arms.

She sighed, "Yes."

"Bones, there are ways of getting around things like this." he mumbled into her soft hair that smelled like apricot.

"Such as?" she prodded.

"I'll tell you the first thing we're gonna do…" he whispered so only she could hear him.

She picked her head up and looked at him squarely, apparently not believing what he'd just suggested. "You're serious?"

"It's worth a shot." he stated.

Brennan contemplated it for about a nanosecond before she nodded her head vehemently.

"Alright, I'll call a meeting up for tomorrow." he gave her an award-worthy charm-smile that made her melt as he started the engine again.

Brennan couldn't stop smiling all the way back to the Jeffersonian.

**_What do you think they're scheming? Nobody gets to know unless some major review-action happens here.  
P.S.: I know this is really OOC, but I think that Brennan could be mushy if she opened herself up to it.  
P.S.S: Please click that green button and review?!_**


	5. Fight For the Right

**_Here's the last chapter of "The Bones of the Heart" (sob). I know it's hard for me too. Don't you worry your imaginative little heads though, my devoted public. The next installment of "The Secret Series", titled "Trouble in Paradise", and should be up within the week. All I can tell you for right now is that the 'trouble' isn't between Booth and Brennan and still will be the fluffy series you still know and love. Anyhoo, without further ado..._**

**_Fight For the Right_**

The Next Day…

"Agent Booth." Cullen addressed him as he entered his employee's office.

"Sir." Booth returned politely. He sat behind his desk, toying with a foam football and tossing it from hand to hand. Brennan flanked him, anxiety etched across her face. She couldn't place why her stomach was churning over her breakfast from that morning. _"Could it be nerves,…fear…something more?"_ she shook her head free of the thoughts just as Sweets' showed up right on time.

"Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan." Sweets smiled at each of them before taking the chair beside Cullen's in front of Booth's desk.

"So…why are we all gathered here today, Booth?" Cullen asked. He had become particularly nice towards his top agent and his lady scientist partner. Booth had the best case-closure rate in MCU (major-crimes unit) and that deserved a few extra pleasantries from him that most agents never really saw.

Booth smiled at his superior and handed him a manila folder. Brennan couldn't fight the small smile that had taken control of her own mouth as well. Cullen looked at them both suspiciously before he began to read.

"You're requesting to be absolved from further psychotherapy sessions with Dr. Sweets?"

"Yes, sir." the pair said in unison.

"Wait, they can't!" Sweets said before he was cut off by Cullen.

"You are also formally asking the F.B.I. for assurance that your partnership won't be severed and Dr. Sweets can't have the power to break you up?" he affirmed.

"Just asking, sir." Booth used his most effective charm smile.

"What is all this about, guys? We were just starting to scratch the surface of the emotional attachment between you two." Sweets kind of whined.

"Don't think we're kicking you to the curb, Sweets. We still want you around for profiles and interrogation, but we want you to stop messing with our heads." Booth stated simply.

"Director Cullen," Sweets turned his attention to the older man. "I think this is a mechanism that Booth and Dr. Brennan are using so they don't have to face the fact that they have deep personal ties to one another and can remain together despite the consequences that might arise should these feelings go on ignored."

Cullen seemed to process that before he looked up at Brennan, "I don't think that you've had your say in this, Dr. Brennan. Care to share?"

Brennan never thought so hard before she spoke in her life than she had in that moment. She breathed deeply and began.

"I've never put a lot of stock in psychology, Director Cullen, and no offense to you Dr. Sweets, but all you've done is imagined that there are problems where there aren't any. Booth and I were shaky for awhile, but we were fine by the time we were sent to you. Seeley Booth is the most decent man I've ever met and the only person to ever have my complete trust and maybe a little faith at the same time. I…I'm proud to say that I'm his partner and I don't want it any other way." she ended definitively.

"Aww…thanks, Bones." Booth tossed her the ball, which she caught nimbly.

"Okay, but don't you two see what's happening here?!" Sweets pressed forward. "You're so obviously on the border of taking this…partnership…to the next level!"

"Do you mean by 'the next level' a romantic relationship?" Brennan asked.

"Uh…yeah." he punctuated before taking a drink from his coffee mug that had been resting on his knee.

"Well then, you'll be glad to know that Bones and I've been discussing such a leap and have even kissed of our own free wills." Booth said happily.

Nobody really_ wanted_ to see Sweets coffee come spurting forth out of his mouth, but they were subjected to the pleasant sight anyway.

"Really? When did all this take place?" Cullen asked darkly.

Both of them knew now was the make or break it moment. "Late December, sir." Booth replied somberly.

All three of them watched the director's face consider what was just said. A slow, wide grin spread across Cullen's lips and his shoulders shook in amusement.

"Booth, my boy, not only have you made me famous among the board members with the Squint Squad here on our side thanks to you, but now you've made me a much richer man. December was my month in the bidding pool." the senior laughed.

Brennan and Booth let out sighs of relief they didn't know they were holding. Booth had to make sure. "So, you're saying that we can stay together?"

Cullen smiled. "For the amount of money you just made me, Booth, I don't think I can say 'no' to you in good conscious. Congrats, guys." he said while standing to leave.

"Director Cullen, out of curiosity, how much did we just make you?" Brennan asked the innocent question. It couldn't hurt anything now.

His grin only returned, "With everybody combined, including your squints who got in on it, Dr. Brennan, I should be pulling in about two grand. Bye."

Three jaws dropped all in cadence with each other's. "Well how do you like that? We should've gotten in on that action." Booth stated.

"Yeah, no kidding. We could've won that easily. We know ourselves better than anyone else." Brennan crossed her arms. "Anyway, I've gotta get back to the lab and fill in a very anxious and angry Angela."

"And I have a son to go pick up from his mother's. See you later."

"Yep. See ya."

The partners left Booth's office, heading in separate directions, but not before he placed a small kiss to Brennan's cheek. Sweets was left in amazement at the scene that had just taken place in front of his eyes. Surprisingly, there was only one thing that was racing through his mind.

"_This is all going down in the memoir."_

**_Same thing I put at the bottom of every chapter: Good? Bad? Indifferent? Please let me know what you think and look out for "Trouble in Paradise"...#3 in "The Secret Series"._**


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